HIST202: History of Europe, 1800 to the Present

Unit 3: War, Ideologies, and Upheavals, 1800-1856The nineteenth century saw drastic political changes that had been
initiated by the Napoleonic Wars and the subsequent reorganization of
the political map of Europe via the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
Interestingly, the Vienna Settlement was intended to restore stability
to the European state system; however, the first half of the nineteenth
century was characterized by widespread social and political unrest. The
era later became known as the “Age of Revolutions.” Still, different
nation-states reacted in different ways to the revolutionary fervor that
pervaded Europe. Britain, Austria, and ultra-royalist France responded
with conservative nationalism. In Greece and Serbia, radical
independence movements emerged. In 1848, a revolution in France quickly
spread throughout most of Europe, resulting in a bloody contest between
nobles and the discontented middle and working classes. This unit ends
with an analysis of the Crimean War and why it is considered to be the
first “modern” war in history.

In this unit, we will see how Europe’s rejection of the
eighteenth-century world and its Enlightenment ideals resulted in the
rise of liberal nationalism, social unrest, and the emergence of
Romanticism.

Unit 3 Time Advisory
This unit will take you 21 hours to complete.

☐ Subunit 3.1: 3 hours

☐ Subunit 3.2: 2 hours

☐ Subunit 3.3: 5 hours

☐ Subunit 3.4: 3 hours

☐ Subunit 3.5: 2.5 hours

☐ Subunit 3.6: 4 hours

☐ Subunit 3.7: 1.5 hours

Unit3 Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this unit, the student will be able to:

Assess the causes and consequences of the general social and
political unrest in post-Napoleonic Europe.

Identify the origins and early development of socialism and
nationalism in Europe.

Explain Romanticism and its historical socio-political context, and
especially in relation to revolutionary Europe.

Identify the origins, major events, figures, ideas, and consequences
of the 1848 Revolutions.

Instructions: Please watch the above video (approx. 13 minutes),
which discusses Napoleon’s early military campaigns. The Napoleonic
Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon’s French Empire
by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a
continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution, they
revolutionized European armies and played out on an unprecedented
scale, mainly owing to the application of modern mass
conscription.

Instructions: Please watch the above video (approx. 22 minutes).
The War of the Third Coalition spanned from 1803 to 1806. Under
Napoleon I, it saw the defeat of an alliance of Austria, Portugal,
Russia, and others by France and its client states.

Instructions: Please watch the above video (approx. 16 minutes).
The Fourth Coalition against Napoleon’s French Empire was defeated
in a war spanning 1806–1807. Coalition partners included Prussia,
Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Instructions: Please watch the above video (approx. 20 minutes).
The Peninsular War occurred between France and the allied powers of
Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian
Peninsula.

Instructions: Please watch the above video (approx. 17 minutes).
The French invasion of Russia in 1812 was a turning point in the
Napoleonic Wars. It reduced the French invasion forces to a tiny
fraction of their initial strength and triggered a major shift in
European politics as it dramatically weakened French hegemony in
Europe. As a result, the reputation of Napoleon as an undefeated
military genius was severely shaken.

Instructions: Please watch the above video (approx. 16 minutes).
In the War of the Sixth Coalition (1812–1814), a coalition of
Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden,
Spain, and a number of German States finally defeated France and
drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile, thereby restoring the French
monarchy under Louis XVIII.

Instructions: Please read the entire webpage, including the other
chapters. This pamphlet, published in 1859, is one of Mill’s most
famous expositions on liberalism in the nineteenth century. Mill
believes that conservatism threatens the liberties of
individuals—only liberalism can safeguard against tyranny.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the webpage above.

Instructions: Please watch the entire 50-minute lecture linked
above. Dr. Merriman’s video lecture will give you a sense of the
virulent nationalism (based on ethnicity and common language) that
took hold across nineteenth century Europe.

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displayed on the webpage above.

Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul
Halsall’s version of Voltaire’s Patrie
Link: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook:Paul
Halsall’s version of Voltaire’s
Patrie
(HTML)

Instructions: Please read the entire webpage linked above. This
entry, from Voltaire’s The Philosophical Dictionary,published in
1752, is an incisive attack on the provinciality of nationalism.
Through this anecdote, Voltaire shows the actual and intellectual
limits of nationalism and instead advocates for cosmopolitanism.

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Instructions: Please read both of Dr. Kreis’s lectures 21 and 22
linked above. The first lecture will give you a sense of the advent
of utopian socialism, particularly through the eyes of Charles
Fourier. The second lecture provides information on the socialist
ideas of Robert Owen and Claude-Henri de Saint-Simon.

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displayed on the webpage above.

3.3.5 The Birth of Marxism
- Reading: Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide: Lectures on Modern
European Intellectual History: “Lecture 24: The Age of Ideologies:
Reflections on Karl Marx”
Link: Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide:Lectures on Modern
European Intellectual History:“Lecture 24: The Age of Ideologies:
Reflections on Karl
Marx”
(HTML)

Instructions: Please read the entire webpage to get a sense of Karl
Marx and the birth of Marxism.

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displayed on the webpage above.

Instructions: Please read the both webpages in their entirety for
an overview of Romanticism. Gates’s article includes an interesting
discussion of Romanticism’s influence on literature, art, and music,
which is also covered in sections 3.4.2 and 3.4.3.

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3.4.2 Romanticism in Literature
- Reading: Schaffer Library of Drug Policy’s version of Thomas de
Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium Eater
Link: Schaffer Library of Drug Policy’s version of Thomas de
Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium
Eater
(HTML)

Instructions: Please read the entire webpage linked above. First
published in 1821, this autobiography chronicles the laudanum (opium
and alcohol) addiction of the British writer Thomas de Quincy. The
text is representative of the new Romantic Movement taking shape in
Britain and elsewhere in Europe in the 1800s; de Quincey uses strong
emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience.

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3.4.3 Romanticism in Art and Music
- Reading: Connexions: Catherine Schmidt-Jones’s “The Music of the
Romantic Era”
Link: Connexions: Catherine Schmidt-Jones’s “The Music of the
Romantic Era” (HTML)

Also available in:

[PDF](http://cnx.org/content/m11606/1.9/content_info#cnx_downloads_header)
Instructions: Please read this article in its entirety for
information on the historical development of Romanticism in music
during this era, stemming from influences of classical music.
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displayed on the webpage above.

Instructions: Please read the entire webpage in order to get a
sense of the reform movement in Great Britain and the revolutions in
Greece and France during the 1820s and 1830s.

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displayed on the webpage above.

3.5.1 Liberation in Greece
- Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul
Halsall’s version of “The Treaty of London for Greek Independence”
Link: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook:Paul
Halsall’s version of “The Treaty of London for Greek
Independence”
(HTML)

Instructions: Please read the entire webpage. In this treaty,
Britain, France, and Russia agree to assist Greece in declaring
independence from the Ottoman Turks. When the treaty was enacted in
1827, Greece was faltering in a war against a powerful
Ottoman-Egyptian alliance.

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displayed on the webpage above.

3.5.2 Reform in Britain
- Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul
Halsall’s version of Thomas Babington Macaulay’s “Speech on the
Reform Bill of 1832”
Link: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook:Paul
Halsall’s version of Thomas Babington Macaulay’s “Speech on the
Reform Bill of
1832”
(HTML)

Instructions: Please read the excerpt of Macualay’s speech linked
above. In this speech, the Whig reformer Thomas Babington Macaulay
lauds the recent passage of the Reform Bill in England, which
extended the franchise to the middle class. Prior to the
introduction of this new legislation in 1832, most members of
Parliament were elected undemocratically in what were commonly known
as “rotten boroughs.”

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Instructions: Please read the introductory paragraphs. Then,
click on the hyperlinks titled “Photographs” and “Drawings and
Prints” listed under “Resources.” Finally, click on each hyperlink
listed under “Reporting and Commentary on the Famine”: “Voices from
Ireland,” “American and Irish-American Commentary,” and “English
Views of the Famine.” Please read each of these selections.

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3.5.4 Revolution of 1830 in France
- Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul
Halsall’s version of François Guizot’s “Condition of the July
Monarchy, 1830-1848”
Link: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook:Paul
Halsall’s version of François Guizot’s “Condition of the July
Monarchy”
(HTML)

Instructions: Please read all of the short excerpts of Guizot’s
speeches on Fordham University’s webpage linked above. These
excerpts illustrate how the reinstated Bourbon monarchy opposed the
liberalism of the French Revolution. Guizot, who served as the
king’s minister of public instruction, was an avid supporter of the
aristocracy and the constitutional monarchy.

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Instructions: These readings cover subunits 3.6.1-3.6.3. Please
read the entire webpage on HistoryDoctor.net in order to get a good
overview of the Revolutions of 1848—in France, the Austrian Empire,
and Prussia. Then, read the entire PDF to understand the different
outcomes of the “liberal” revolutions of 1848 in each country.

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Instructions: Please read these pages in their entirety. Pay
special attention to how the 1848 revolutions helped to create a
unified Italy.

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3.7 The Emergence of “Realpolitik” after 18483.7.1 Realpolitik
- Reading: Beyond Books: "2b. German Unification: The Age of
Bismarck"
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion
of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to
fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please
submit it here.

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3.7.2 The Crimean War
- Reading: Air University: Professor Richard A. Gabriel and Karen S.
Metz’s “A Short History of Wars”: “Chapter 5 – The Emergence of
Modern War”
Link: Air University: Professor Richard A. Gabriel and Karen S.
Metz’s “A Short History of Wars”: “Chapter 5 – The Emergence of
Modern
War”
(HTML)

Instructions: Please read the section on the Crimean War. Pay
attention to the reasons for which the Crimean War is considered one
of the first modern wars in history.

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Instructions: Please read these texts in their entirety. Remember
that the Crimean War was just an episode of the long-running contest
between European powers for the control of the territories the
declining Ottoman Empire (1828-1908).

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